Alibaba strategist Ming Zeng: “Smart business” in the era of business ecosystems
ISSN: 1087-8572
Article publication date: 8 March 2019
Issue publication date: 1 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Alibaba strategist Ming Zeng explains how the company operates its “smart business” in the era of business ecosystems
Design/methodology/approach
Alibaba today presents a vivid picture of the new business world emerging, one that operates using the data generated by the network of participants, as processed by machine learning, to automatically respond to customer behavior and preferences in real time.
Findings
At Alibaba link after link in the value chain is being modularized and reconfigured into technologically optimized networks and much of business decision-making is powered by algorithms.
Practical implications
Creativity becomes the crucial productive factor and thus the purpose of an organization is to enable, rather than manage creative people.
Originality/value
<abstract_text>In the emerging world of “smart business,” entrepreneurs and strategists must learn to assess the entire network as a whole when deciding how to position their business and create value. Then the strategy making process is one of generating, coordinating and modulating experimentation
Keywords
Citation
Leavy, B. (2019), "Alibaba strategist Ming Zeng: “Smart business” in the era of business ecosystems", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp. 11-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-01-2019-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited